Chapter 1

I fell in love with my handsome landlord, Ethan.

On the night of our sixth anniversary, he rented out an entire restaurant to celebrate.

When we were about to get intimate that night, I accidentally saw a message pop up on his phone about “discussing the wedding.”

The sender called Ethan “Husband,” and her profile picture showed a stunningly beautiful woman.

I shoved Ethan away as he braced himself above the bed, breathing heavily.

This time, I was truly exhausted.

Ethan’s warmth still lingered all over my body.

“Baby, what’s wrong?”

After I pushed him away, Ethan lost his mood, and there was a hint of displeasure in his voice.

“I don’t want to.”

After getting dressed, I went straight to the living room and desperately gulped in the fresh air.

I wanted to escape this terrifying place and get away from this hypocritical man.

I stood there in a daze for a few seconds.

Then I gathered my things and prepared to leave.

“Baby, why are you suddenly mad?”

Ethan naturally had no idea what was going on, and he probably thought he had hidden everything perfectly. He wanted to have both women.

I never expected him to make a mistake despite all his precautions.

“I suddenly don’t feel like taking care of you anymore.”

Ethan was rendered speechless by my words, and his already-irritated expression darkened.

I added, “You’re getting married, so why are you still messing with me?”

In an instant, Ethan’s expression darkened, and a trace of guilt flashed through his eyes.

Ethan and I came from completely different backgrounds.

I was a girl who had grown up in the mountains, while he was the heir to six rental properties.

All of Ethan’s friends said we were incompatible and could never get married.

I knew there probably wasn’t a future for us.

But Ethan rejected one blind date after another and repeatedly went out of his way to make me happy.

He made me believe that I could change society’s prejudices and stay with him for the rest of our lives.

I learned to make Southern desserts for him.

For his sake, I gave up spicy food and learned to eat mild meals.

I adjusted my schedule to match his and encouraged him to start a business.

Yet he spent less and less time with me, always claiming that it was “for the sake of a better future for the two of us.”

In the end, I was the only clown in the story.

“Chloe, listen to me.”

Ethan grabbed my hand and held me in place.

“Did you see the message on my phone? My parents insist that I marry her. Otherwise, they’ll cut off my financial support. You know that without my family, I’m nothing. I had no choice but to pretend to go along with them.”

“Don’t worry. My heart has always belonged to you. I can’t give you marriage, but I’ll do my best to give you everything else.”

Ethan sounded sincere.

But what I heard was absurd.

A relationship without marriage as its goal was nothing but playing with someone’s feelings.

Thinking only about your own freedom while refusing to take responsibility for a woman was exactly what a scumbag did.

I forcefully pulled my hand away and said, “How much is your love even worth?”

“I don’t want this twisted kind of love anymore.”

I stared into his eyes as I spoke.

It was the first time Ethan had seen me so firm and decisive. For a moment, his expression became confused, but his pride kept him from begging me to stay.

“Then leave! Just don’t regret it after you go! If you come crawling back to me later, I may not feel like taking you back.”

Ethan lifted his chin and spoke coldly.

Looking at the man I had loved for six years, I felt an overwhelming disgust rise from the depths of my heart.

During the day, Ethan had been rushing around preparing for our sixth anniversary.

He rented out an entire French restaurant, hired a violinist to play my favorite song, and put a diamond necklace around my neck.

We had gazed at the river through the floor-to-ceiling windows and kissed passionately.

That night, we should have been lost in a heated embrace.

But when Ethan was searching through the nightstand for a condom, I happened to look up and see a message pop up on his phone:

【Husband, remember that we’re meeting in the private dining room at the grand hotel tomorrow to discuss the wedding. See you tomorrow. Love you, mwah!】

The profile picture showed a dazzlingly beautiful woman.

I happened to know her too.

She was Victoria, the daughter of Ethan’s neighbors, and she also came from a wealthy family that had made its fortune through property compensation.

After Victoria returned home to settle down, Ethan’s parents had constantly tried to match the two of them.

Ethan had rejected more than a hundred blind dates, but Victoria was the one exception.

“She was my childhood friend. If I reject her outright, it’ll be awkward since we’ll inevitably run into each other later,” Ethan had explained to me.

I believed him.

But Victoria moved into an apartment owned by Ethan’s family.

Ethan helped her furnish it again and again.

Victoria invited Ethan out again and again. The two of them had traveled alone to the west coast, Iceland, and the Maldives.

Their life together was both romantic and full of ordinary warmth. They looked more like a perfectly in-sync young couple.

I should have guessed the truth long ago.